Richard's mother, Rebekah, had lived in this home also. She left it upon suffering from post-partum depression after her first child was stillborn. Unable to recover without inpatient help, she spent several years in the psychiatric unit of the now-defunct Danville Medical Hospital. Rumor had it that she and the infa mous Oliver Pratt had struck up a close friendship, spending long hours together before his death-a rumor the Burns family denied. Nine years after her discharge from the facility, her son Richard was born.
The policemen had called ahead, so the psychiatrist knew they were coming. He warned them he could not spare much time.
They were right on time. As they approached the Second Empire structure, the lieutenants stopped to collect their thoughts.
"Hey, Sheski," Mike queried, "How much do you think a place like this would cost?"
"More than you and I together will ever see," he replied.
Sheski looked up at the multi-colored slate, Mansard-style roof protecting paneled freeze-boards and dormer windows, wondering how a person kept a place like this in such immaculate condition.
Authentic Victorian colors were painted on slender Pennsylvania pine siding. A cresting on the roof topped off the rich, colorful structure. The house was set close to Mill Street, separated by a few feet of Barry Brownmanicured yard and a low decorative iron fence. The effect was one of elegance and charm.
When Sheski reached for the doorbell, his hand brushed across a bronze plaque fastened to the side of the double doors. Peering closer, he read:
"THIS PROPERTY HAS BEEN PLACED ON THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES BY THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR."
Impressive, he thought.
Kylie Burns opened the door for them, dressed in tailored brown slacks and matching jacket over a cream colored blouse open at the neck. A single gold chain with a large diamond hugged her throat.
"Please come in," she said coolly, stepping aside for the men. She eyed Sheski in particular, wondering just how much he had seen in the Stones' library the night of Rose's death. The policeman's expression was noncommittal.
In the background, they could hear several dogs barking.
"They won't hurt you," Kylie stated fondly. "They're such sweet babies. They wouldn't hurt anyone"
They entered a twelve-foot wide foyer with an open staircase that continued up three floors, and were ushered through pocket doors into a drawing room. It was furnished with a scarlet oriental rug and period furnishings that looked like an illustration out of Godey's Lady's Book. She motioned for them to sit down and said she would inform her husband they had guests.
Unexpectedly, four dogs of various sizes and breeds rushed in to greet the guests. Two border collies, a Yorkshire Terrier like Lana's, only bigger, and a mixedbreed completed the ensemble. The meticulously groomed pets wagged their tails and made every effort to get to know their new visitors.
"Alright, you nosy little honeys," Kylie said in a motherly tone to the dogs. She petted each one, taking care to give individual attention to them all. The dogs, accustomed to such affection, followed their mistress around, all vying for her notice.
Kylie's face brightened as she looked fondly at her charges. "Richard and I have no children, so these are my babies," she explained. "I saved two of them from the dog pound and the others were strays that were found wandering around town. It's horrible how some people treat their animals, leaving them to get hurt or starve. We have many abandoned dogs and cats at the shelter right now" She got an idea and said, "Are either of you two looking for a pet? There're some really adorable dogs down there."
The lieutenants assured her they weren't presently looking for a pet, but would keep it in mind.
Kylie smiled at their response and left the room to get her husband. Her four charges followed, the mutt pushing closest to his benefactress.
The policemen surveyed the antiques before choosing a place to sit. Sheski lowered his large frame onto an uncomfortable Eastlake needlepoint-covered side chair while Mike sat gingerly on a small antique corner seat. Out of view of their hosts, they threw each other glances that expressed the impossibility of finding anything in that room suitable to sit on. They figured that Kylie's placement of them in this setting may have been intentional.
Dr. Richard Burns entered the drawing room with the air of an important man who had places to be and people to see. His well-groomed, moderate-length blond hair hung about an inch over his ears and down over his collar in the back. It looked like a hairstyle he might have had in college and had never changed. Small, round glasses were perched on his nose. The doctor's wife followed behind him, this time without the dogs.
Both lieutenants rose to shake hands with the darksuited man. Sheski stared him full in the face, turned away, and then looked beyond the John Lennon tinted glasses into his eyes. There was something compelling about the doctor's gaze. Sheski introduced himself and Mike while the host and hostess settled into matching side chairs for their interview.
"I hope my wife's pets didn't annoy you too much," the doctor began. "That's her passion in life, you see. She single-handedly supports the financing of the local dog shelter and volunteers there two days a week. She'd have ten dogs in this house if I'd permit it. Which I don't. Four is our limit"
Kylie beamed over at her husband.
Sheski listened patiently, and then lost no time in explaining the purpose of their visit. He inquired about the doctor's whereabouts at the time of Mrs. Stone's murder.
"I knew you would want to know that, so I consulted my calendar earlier today. It seems I was conducting a session with one of my clients at the time of Rose's death. I cannot tell you the person's name but you may speak with Sarah, our secretary, to confirm my story"
Same song and dance as Dr. Stone, thought Sheski. I've got to get to Sarah before the day is over to check these stories.
"Dr. Burns, are you or your wife aware of anyone who would want to murder Mrs. Stone?" asked Mike concernedly. "Someone who would want to mutilate her body in such a vicious way?"
Mike kept his eyes on the doctor while Sheski was watching Kylie. She was a pretty cool lady, looking at her husband while waiting for his answer. Only the nervous clasping, unclasping of the diamond watch on her tiny left wrist betrayed the underlying anxiety that she was experiencing.
"For God's sake, Kylie, stop that," hissed her frowning husband while looking in her direction.
His remark caught her off-guard and, red faced, she stammered, "Oh, sorry, I didn't realize what I was doing."
"What was your question again?" the doctor asked Mike.
Mike repeated his question.
The Burnses simultaneously denied knowing any such person. The doctor cautiously stated that he didn't believe Mrs. Stone had any enemies, while his wife continued to deny knowing anyone who would hurt Rose.
"Rose and I have been friends a long time," Kylie stated. "We golfed together and attended each other's parties. Our husbands worked closely at Stone Haven, so we had plenty of opportunities to get together" She narrated a story of a friendly relationship that existed between the Stone and the Burns families, dating back many years.
When she finished, Sheski asked her matter-of- factly, "Where were you at the time of the murder?"
"I was at Stone Haven, waiting to see Richard."
Dr. Burns's head spun around as if in disbelief. "This is the first I've heard of this. You knew I was with patients all day, Kylie. What did you want?"
Kylie shifted uncomfortably and crisply said, "I don't remember now, I just know that I was there. You can ask John Deadly. He saw me." She turned her gaze from his. She knew that the investigators would check her story and that Deadly would corroborate what she'd said.
Richard was eyeing his wife suspiciously. It was observed by the detectives.
Sheski wrote notes on a small pad while they finished up the interview. On their way out the door, he and Mike thanked the Burnses. Kylie was glaring at all of them when she closed the
massive doors on their backs.
"If I didn't know better, I would think her husband was caught off-guard there," said Mike evenly.
Sheski began to fill his friend in on his observations of the night before. How he saw Dr. Stone and Kylie in a semi-clinch, sharing murmurings in the library.
"And his wife's body's not yet cold," snapped Mike. "A guy could get cynical on this job"
"Let's eat something and then go back to Stone Haven. I'd like to talk to the staff again. Especially the receptionist, Sarah," Sheski said.
After the special at a Mill Street restaurant, their ride to Stone Haven took just a few minutes. Again they parked their car out front and went into the imposing structure. Sarah, the secretary/receptionist, was not at her desk. Instead, there were two other women sitting there. The lieutenants recognized them as the same two who were with Sarah at the funeral. The older one introduced herself as Vickie Sims, Stone Haven's social worker. The other, she explained, glancing at her companion, was Shannon Albright, the hospital dietician. She said that they were filling in while Sarah took a powder break.
Vickie was a slightly overweight, middle-aged married woman with shoulder-length blond hair. She was a sober but friendly person, in contrast to Shannon, who smiled a lot as she spoke.
Shannon, at thirty, was younger than her friend. She was beautiful, with long black hair, fair complexion, and a knockout figure that she maintained by instructing aerobics part-time.
The policemen introduced themselves and said they had some questions for Sarah. Shannon asked if it was about Mrs. Stone's murder and the investigators nodded their heads.
"Rose will not be missed, I'm sorry to say," the dietician said crisply. "She was one of those women who had time only for herself. She was married to one of the best-looking men around, but didn't appreciate him. He's gonna be a real catch for someone," she sighed.
"Is she mooning over the boss again?" Sarah said, grinning as she crossed the floor toward them. "She's had a crush on him since she first laid eyes on him."
"Oh, I'm harmless," Shannon grinned back. "I don't want to marry him, just be able to stare at him for the rest of my life."
Up until then, Vickie had said nothing. The social worker in her just couldn't joke about someone so soon after their death. Vickie was familiar with the death and dying process, and the realities of a job in which consoling others was a daily process took their toll. "I can't believe he's back to work so soon. But different people cope with loss in different ways," she said philosophically.
"Sarah, is there somewhere we can talk privately?" Sheski asked.
"Sure," she replied. "Dr. Stone is still at lunch. We can use his office."
Without being asked, the lieutenants handed their guns over to her and, according to policy and procedure, she locked them in the hospital vault. They then followed her down the hall to the office.
Shannon volunteered to tend the desk again until Sarah returned. When the three were out of sight, Shannon and Vickie began to speculate on what the police could want with Sarah.
"She can't be a suspect," said Vickie. "They must want to just ask her some routine questions. What could she know, anyway? She was here the day of the murder until five-thirty P.M. I know because I was here, too. And, according to the police, Rose was already dead by then."
"Maybe I'll get lucky and the tall one will want to question me privately," laughed Shannon.
"What are you two all excited about?" asked Lana, stopping at the desk. Lana was back at work at Stone Haven to handle some of the heavy nursing caseload.
"A good-looking detective and his sidekick are interviewing Sarah," said Vickie. "Shannon was just saying she'd like to get her turn with the tall one. I think he said his name was Lieutenant Sheski."
Lana's face flushed and she asked guardedly, "Where are they now?"
"In Dr. Stone's office, and I saw him first," said Shannon, grinning.
That's what you think, thought Lana. "Tell the tall, good-looking lieutenant I'll be back in my office in a half-hour and to stop by when he's finished," she said with a smile. "I'll be there until six."
With that, she headed down the west wing to the second door on the left and into her office. Closing the door behind her, she could feel her heart beat rapidly at the thought of seeing him again. She quickly glanced in the mirror to make sure she looked all right, adding some lipstick to her scant make-up. Lana then turned from side to side to get a look at her gray pants suit. Satisfied, she went back out and down the hall to her appointment with a client.
"Well ... what's that all about?" Shannon asked when Lana was out of earshot.
Vickie just shrugged her shoulders and said she didn't know, but that this could get interesting.
Inside Dr. Stone's office, Sarah was busy answering the investigators' questions. She shared with them the close friendship that she had with Rose's daughter Karen, and Karen's pain over her parents' reaction to her love affair.
"He's a really nice guy," Sarah assured them about Jess. "I've known him for a while now, and he's always a gentleman. And he loves Karen a lot. Treats her like a queen. It's made a big difference in her life. That's more than I could say about her parents. They may have given her everything she wanted, but the price they wanted in return was too high for anyone to pay. Karen was expected to go to the college they wanted, live where they said, and date only a man they approved of. Karen was just an extension of their status in the town, and they wanted to look good. At first I thought that was why she chose Jess. You know, because he's black, and Karen knew her parents wouldn't approve. After seeing them together, I realized that she really loved him. They are very happy together. It changed Karen. She's learning consideration for others. Rose couldn't stand it. Did you know that she was going to write Karen out of her will, leaving all of her money to her favorite charities?"
Sheski nodded his head in affirmation.
"Rose was going to give all her money to her causes, not even a penny to her husband. When they had the big blowup on Valentine's Day, Rose not only gave Karen and Jess the boot, she also told her husband, in front of all of them, that she knew of his affair with Kylie Burns. Rose was on a roll. She said she wasn't stupid. Kylie was turning up at Stone Haven far too often and when she had questioned that trash, John Deadly, he had lied to protect the two of them. She said she gave Deadly a tongue-lashing he'd never forget. Said she told that worthless bastard exactly what she thought of him. That's when she hired a private detective and got the evidence she needed. Neither Karen nor her father would get a dime from her. Karen was shocked to hear her mother say such things. She thought her father would deny it, but he didn't. Karen had enough and gathered up her things to leave, saying she didn't ever want to see either of them again; that she didn't need their money. That's when Rose struck her. Karen said her mother slugged her hard with a closed fist. I guess Jess stepped in and got her out of there before it became a free-for-all. Karen called me when she got home, hysterical over her parents' behavior. Jess vowed he'd not let her be struck again. Said he'd see to it."
"Do you think Jess could have murdered Rose?" asked Mike.
"No, I don't think so. I just think he meant that Karen wouldn't be going to her parents' home again until they apologized and changed their attitude. He would have had a long time to wait before that happened. The Stones are self-centered people. They wouldn't change for anyone, not even their own daughter."
Mike then redirected Sarah to the alibis that both psychiatrists gave for where they were at the time of Rose's murder. Sarah vouched that the two of them each had a session at that time, but couldn't divulge the clients' identities.
Sheski saw that she wordlessly left the appointment book wide open where he could see the names for himself if he wanted to look while they talked. Sarah was proving to be a good contact person, he thought.
Flagrantly standing over her to get a good look at the scheduled appointments, Sheski took all the time he needed. He made a mental not
e that Dr. Burns had a session from 3:30 P.M. until 4:15 P.M. with someone named Jamison Albright. That name didn't ring a bell. Dr. Stone's afternoon client was another matter. Sheski silently motioned for Mike to get a look. The name jumped off the page at both of them. From 3 P.M. until five, John Deadly was receiving therapy from his boss. Sheski wondered what kind of problems Deadly was working on for two full hours. From where he stood, the guy sure had some, but two hours was a long time for a therapy session.
The lieutenants finished their questioning, thanked Sarah, and told her they might need to meet again. On their way out the door, Sheski spied the Oliver Pratt journal in the glass showcase. He turned to Sarah, and with a puzzled look, asked, "Has anyone ever read that?"
"I don't know, maybe," she replied. "Dr. Stone keeps it locked up in that glass box. He says it's too fragile to be handled. More than one art critic writing on the Pratt paintings petitioned for approval to review it, but they were always turned away. It was part of the estate when Dr. Stone's mother purchased the property. So, legally he has the right to refuse. He and Deadly have the only keys to this case"
The trio returned to the receptionist's desk as Dr. Stone came through the doors. He eyed the policemen suspiciously, looked back in the direction of his office, and asked them what they were doing there.
"Routine questioning, Doctor," Mike said gravely. "We're still conducting our investigation."
"I have nothing further to say to you unless my lawyer is present. Make an appointment with him if you want to see me again." With that, he turned and briskly went into his office.
Shannon watched the handsome psychiatrist walk away, admiration written all over her lovely face. She smiled dreamily and said nothing, waving back to them as she headed off to her office.
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